Wardriving: The New Cyber-rage!
Wardriving... looking for and recording wireless access points. Its pretty interesting and has really become a popular cyber sport. Just check out this map of wireless networks in North America that have been detected by wardriving: http://www.wigle.net/images/national.png Has YOUR network been posted yet?
My stumbling setup:
Acer Travelmate 4000 laptop, Proxim Orinoco 802.11b Gold card, Hyperlink 5db external magnetic car-mount antenna, DeLorme Earthmate USB GPS. Other wi-fi equipment include a Hawking Technology 5db desktop antenna, D-Link SuperG b/g wireless router, and internal Intel Centrio 802.11b/g wireless card in the laptop.
My http://www.wigle.net Stats so far:
Total New Discovered Networks with GPS: 789
All Networks Recorded: 968
http://www.wigle.net is one of the best sites for looking up wireless access points. Over 2.26 million APs have been detected, plotted, and posted. Also, try http://www.wifimaps.com
So here is what you need to get started:
A GOOD wireless card:
I recomend an Orinoco Gold card for its great range and better chipset. Linksys, D-link, Netgear, and many others use the Prism 2 chipset. Also, the Orinoco card features a place to plug in an external antenna. Try Newegg for good prices. http://www.proxim.com/products/wifi/client/
A GPS:
I reccomend the DeLorme Earthmate USB GPS. It comes with Street Atlas 2005 software which is pretty nice. Most stores like Best Buy carry it for about $130. It can be a little tricky setting it up for a novice, as you have to fool the PC into thinking it is on a serial COM port, but no fear GOOGLE has all the answers. http://www.delorme.com/earthmate/
Stumbling program:
Start off with Netstumbler. It is a great Windows tool and simple to use. http://www.netstumbler.com
There are several programs for PDAs also, including MiniStumbler. For Linux Kismet is popular, as it runs passive and can also detect APs that have SSID broadcasting turned off. http://www.kismetwireless.net
Antennas:
oh yeah this is the fun stuff! For basic wardriving a car-mount omni is all you need. If you have the cash, get one in the $50 range with a better cable to reduce signal loss. You will most likely need a pigtail to connect to your car with this kind (and most kinds) of antennas. Know what kind of connecter you need (example; Orinoco cards use MC connectors). Next I would like to get a yagi antenna somewhere in the 10db to 15db range. Here are some great sites for antenna shopping (and remember 802.11 b/g opperates in the 2.4ghz range)
http://www.hyperlinktech.com - mostly a bulk seller, you can buy their stuff at http://www.sharperconcepts.net
http://www.fab-corp.com
http://www.bvsystems.com
Want to build your own antennas out of soup cans, Pringles cans, and Direct TV dishes?
http://www.turnpoint.net/wireless/cantennahowto.html
http://www.turnpoint.net/wireless/has.html
Whew, that's the basics of it. I haven't even gotten into security issues like WEP/WPA encryption, MAC address filtering, SSIDs, and hacking yet... that is all for another day. Meanwhile, check out some more links:
http://www.wardriving.com
http://www.worldwidewardrive.org
http://www.netstumbler.org
http://www.drizzle.com/~aboba/IEEE/
http://www.iss.net/wireless/WLAN_FAQ.php
My stumbling setup:
Acer Travelmate 4000 laptop, Proxim Orinoco 802.11b Gold card, Hyperlink 5db external magnetic car-mount antenna, DeLorme Earthmate USB GPS. Other wi-fi equipment include a Hawking Technology 5db desktop antenna, D-Link SuperG b/g wireless router, and internal Intel Centrio 802.11b/g wireless card in the laptop.
My http://www.wigle.net Stats so far:
Total New Discovered Networks with GPS: 789
All Networks Recorded: 968
http://www.wigle.net is one of the best sites for looking up wireless access points. Over 2.26 million APs have been detected, plotted, and posted. Also, try http://www.wifimaps.com
So here is what you need to get started:
A GOOD wireless card:
I recomend an Orinoco Gold card for its great range and better chipset. Linksys, D-link, Netgear, and many others use the Prism 2 chipset. Also, the Orinoco card features a place to plug in an external antenna. Try Newegg for good prices. http://www.proxim.com/products/wifi/client/
A GPS:
I reccomend the DeLorme Earthmate USB GPS. It comes with Street Atlas 2005 software which is pretty nice. Most stores like Best Buy carry it for about $130. It can be a little tricky setting it up for a novice, as you have to fool the PC into thinking it is on a serial COM port, but no fear GOOGLE has all the answers. http://www.delorme.com/earthmate/
Stumbling program:
Start off with Netstumbler. It is a great Windows tool and simple to use. http://www.netstumbler.com
There are several programs for PDAs also, including MiniStumbler. For Linux Kismet is popular, as it runs passive and can also detect APs that have SSID broadcasting turned off. http://www.kismetwireless.net
Antennas:
oh yeah this is the fun stuff! For basic wardriving a car-mount omni is all you need. If you have the cash, get one in the $50 range with a better cable to reduce signal loss. You will most likely need a pigtail to connect to your car with this kind (and most kinds) of antennas. Know what kind of connecter you need (example; Orinoco cards use MC connectors). Next I would like to get a yagi antenna somewhere in the 10db to 15db range. Here are some great sites for antenna shopping (and remember 802.11 b/g opperates in the 2.4ghz range)
http://www.hyperlinktech.com - mostly a bulk seller, you can buy their stuff at http://www.sharperconcepts.net
http://www.fab-corp.com
http://www.bvsystems.com
Want to build your own antennas out of soup cans, Pringles cans, and Direct TV dishes?
http://www.turnpoint.net/wireless/cantennahowto.html
http://www.turnpoint.net/wireless/has.html
Whew, that's the basics of it. I haven't even gotten into security issues like WEP/WPA encryption, MAC address filtering, SSIDs, and hacking yet... that is all for another day. Meanwhile, check out some more links:
http://www.wardriving.com
http://www.worldwidewardrive.org
http://www.netstumbler.org
http://www.drizzle.com/~aboba/IEEE/
http://www.iss.net/wireless/WLAN_FAQ.php